The European and Japanese mission BepiColombo will make a fly-by of the solar system鈥檚 innermost world next month, diving to just 200 kilometres above the surface of sun-scorched Mercury.
The spacecraft, which is specially engineered to withstand the high temperatures near our star, will collect data and images during the pass, making its closest approach to Mercury 鈥� known as periherm 鈥� on 1 October.
This will be 鈥渢he first of six fly-bys of Mercury aimed at reducing BepiColombo鈥檚 velocity鈥�, says , the spacecraft operations manager on the BepiColombo mission at the European Space Agency (ESA). The speed tweaks from these passes will help set up the spacecraft for getting into orbit around the planet in December 2025.
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The fly-by will be the first time in more than six years that scientists have had close-up views of Mercury. NASA鈥檚 Messenger probe was the last mission to visit; it revealed details of the enigmatic polar regions of the impact-scarred world and produced spectacular pictures of the surface before it was deliberately crashed into the planet at the end of its mission in 2015.
BepiColombo鈥檚 main cameras 鈥� which will be used for scientific imaging from orbit 鈥� won鈥檛 be able to photograph Mercury during the fly-by, because they will have their vision obscured by part of the spacecraft. However, the mission also carries 鈥渕onitoring鈥� cameras 鈥� for keeping tabs on BepiColombo itself 鈥� which will capture images of the planet.
Alongside two of the monitoring cameras, 11 instruments will gather data during the fly-by. This will include measurements of Mercury鈥檚 magnetic field and the tenuous veil of material surrounding the planet, known as an exosphere. The mission will also attempt to detect dust particles as it swoops by, which could tell us about material being blasted off the surface by impacting meteoroids. These would be 鈥渢he first ever measurements of dust near to Mercury鈥�, says ESA鈥檚 , the BepiColombo deputy project scientist.
Following October鈥檚 fly-by, BepiColombo鈥檚 next close encounter with Mercury will be in June next year. Once it gets into orbit around the planet a little over four years from now, the mission will split into two spacecraft that will conduct a detailed investigation of the magnetic fields enveloping the tiny world, and of the planet鈥檚 composition and geological history.
鈥淚t is a very exciting time for the science team,鈥� says at the University of Leicester, UK, who is principal investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer instrument on BepiColombo. 鈥淲e are on a really long journey to our final destination and science orbit around Mercury. To be able to see our target up close for the first time during the [October] fly-by will be really special.鈥�
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